Anacor Pharmaceuticals Awarded U.S. Government Funding to Discover New Classes of Systemic Antibiotics

Anacor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ANAC) today announced it has entered into
a research agreement with the United States Department of Defense,
Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to design and discover new
classes of systemic antibiotics. A drug discovery consortium formed by
Anacor, Colorado State University (C.S.U.) and the University of
California at Berkeley (U.C. Berkeley) will conduct the research over a
three and a half year period. The work is funded by a $13.5 million
award from DTRA’s R&D Innovation and Systems Engineering Office which
was established to search for and execute strategic investments in
innovative technologies for combating weapons of mass destruction.

“Increasing resistance to existing antibiotics has created a critical
need for new classes of antibiotics. We are pleased that DTRA recognizes
the potential of Anacor’s innovative boron chemistry, and we are looking
forward to collaborating with DTRA, C.S.U. and U.C. Berkeley on this
important research,” said David Perry, Anacor’s Chief Executive Officer.

Under this award, Anacor will apply its boron chemistry to discover
rationally designed novel antibiotics that target DTRA-priority
pathogens known to exhibit resistance to existing antibiotics. This work
will be performed in collaboration with Dr. Richard Slayden, Associate
Director for the Center for Environmental Medicine, Department of
Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University and
two University of California Berkeley researchers, Dr. Jamie Cate,
Professor of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural Biology and of
Chemistry, and Dr. Jonas Noeske, all widely regarded as experts in the
field. The new classes of boron-containing antibiotics would be
considered for further development by DTRA as part of ongoing programs
to improve medical countermeasures against biological threats.

About Anacor Pharmaceuticals

Anacor is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing
and commercializing novel small-molecule therapeutics derived from its
boron chemistry platform. Anacor has discovered eight compounds that are
currently in development. Its two lead product candidates are topically
administered dermatologic compounds — tavaborole, an antifungal for the
treatment of onychomycosis, and AN2728, an anti-inflammatory PDE-4
inhibitor for the treatment of atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. In
addition to its two lead programs, Anacor has discovered three other
wholly-owned clinical product candidates — AN2718 and AN2898, which are
backup compounds to tavaborole and AN2728, respectively, and AN3365, an
antibiotic for the treatment of infections caused by Gram-negative
bacteria. We have also discovered three other compounds that we have
out-licensed for further development — one is licensed to Eli Lilly and
Company for the treatment of an animal health indication, the second
compound, AN5568, also referred to as SCYX-7158, is licensed to Drugs
for Neglected Diseases initiative, or DNDi, for human African
trypanosomiasis (HAT, or sleeping sickness), and the third compound is
licensed to GlaxoSmithKline for development in tuberculosis. We also
have a pipeline of other internally discovered topical and systemic
boron-based compounds in development. For more information, visit http://www.anacor.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to
Anacor’s collaboration with DTRA, C.S.U. and U.C. Berkeley to discover
novel antibiotics. These forward looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause timing,
actual levels of activity, performance or achievement to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking
statements. Reference should be made to Anacor's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012, filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission under the heading "Risk Factors" and Anacor's
subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for a more detailed
description of such factors. These statements reflect the views of
Anacor as of the date of this press release with respect to future
events and, except as required by law, it undertakes no obligation to
update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of
this press release.